Use a quality charcoal for your heat source when cooking and remember that lump charcoal burns hotter than briquettes.

Make sure that your grill/pit is clean before cooking. Clean grate with wire brush and clean out ash from the bottom of your grill.

Start charcoal with a chimney and newspaper, instead of lighter fluid.

Make sure your grate is very hot, before placing meat on the grill. This will help prevent meat from sticking.

Season steaks, hamburgers, poultry, or fish approximately 15-30 minutes before grilling. This will allow for the seasoning to be absorbed into the meat.

Allow cooked meats to rest for approximately 3-5 minutes before serving. This will allow juice to redistribute back in to the meat creating a juicier product.

When applying sauce to barbecued meats such as chicken or ribs, do this after the meat has cooked to the proper doneness or at the end of the cooking process, to avoid burning the sauce over the hot coals. Apply the sauce and cook until the sauce sets and remove from the cooker or grill.

A good way to cook barbecue on a grill is to set it up with 2 zones. On a charcoal grill place lit hot coals on one half of the bottom of the grill. This will give one area that is hot to cook over direct heat and one area that is cooler to
cook on. Meats can be started on the hotter side to caramelize and give color to the meat, and then moved over to the side without coals to continue cooking indirect method. This can also be achieved on a gas grill by turning off one of the burners.

Avoid cooking meats that have a rub with a high amount of sugar over high direct heat for too long, as the sugar can quickly burn, causing the barbecue to taste bad.

Good quality thermometers are a great tool to insure cooking meats to the proper doneness, but also remember meats will continue to cook after they are removed from the cooker or grill. This carry over cooking can possibly overcook meats like pork loin, chops, or tenderloin.